


bedtime stories

by psychedelicbubblegum



Category: The Mummy Series
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Rick O'Connell: Himbo Supreme, Rick being a Good Granddad, Storytelling, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and I love his chaotic energy, seriously this is just rick as a granddad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:55:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26319793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychedelicbubblegum/pseuds/psychedelicbubblegum
Summary: Babysitting your grandchildren was supposed to be easy: you get the best bits. No-one warned Rick about bedtime stories.
Relationships: Alex O'Connell/Clementine Scott, Alex O'Connell/Original Female Character, Evy Carnahan O'Connell/Rick O'Connell
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	bedtime stories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Accidental_Ducky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accidental_Ducky/gifts).



“Tell me a story, grandpa!”

Tucked amidst the bedsheets, Eva was the perfect replica of a china doll. The chestnut brown of her soft curls darkened against the cream and lemon of the pillows, floral pattern only serving to enhance the bursts of blue within her hazel eyes - at odds with the glaze of tiredness beginning to infiltrate, fast blinks doing little to curb as such.

Spending the better part of an afternoon watching her whirl round the garden - only stopping once she’d set her sights on climbing the old elm nestled in the eastern corner, deciding the mighty reach of the highest branches were far more interesting than exploration - had left Rick exhausted in his own right. He’d been circling around the bottom as she scaled the branches, reaction ‘ _ blown totally out of proportion _ ’ (according to his wife) after his granddaughter rethunk her plan upon only reaching the second tier of the trees mighty ladder.

The infamous O’Connell stubbornness proved to be thwarted once more by the great Carnahan brand of common sense...

Often this was a blessing (in spite of Rick’s wounded pride) when Eva’s older brother had joined them for a night, and the combined fixation on adventure rife about both children led to them seeking out everything possible to give their granddad a stress infused heart attack.  _ Evie loved to say Liam was Rick’s reborn...and he couldn’t even refute her hypothesis. _

If Eva was more than happy to stumble across trouble, her brother would charge in head first to find it.

“I d’know...” He caught his lower lip between his teeth, capping the display with a theatrical glance back towards the clock sat on the bedside table. “It’s getting pretty late, Nutmeg...I don’t want you staying up all night!”

“Just a small one!” The little girl pleaded, nose wrinkling as she gazed up at her grandfather with her most compelling puppy dog eyes ( _ Rick was fairly certain only fighting the mind control of an egomaniacal corpse allowed him to put up resistance _ ). “Please! I’ll go to sleep straight away, I promise!”

“Hmm...” Rick leaned against the bed slightly, conjuring the most exaggerated look of contemplation possible as he once more glanced up towards the clock. The map of freckles - fresh across Eva’s cheeks from the glaze of July’s bountiful sunlight - blended into one another as a frown broke out, pulling her toy cat a little tighter to her chest, fingers clutching at the soft grey wool tightly. “Just a small one then.”

The delight that broke across his granddaughter’s face served as the best kind of hit. His heart clenched once her smile appeared in a flash, exposing the gaps where her baby teeth had fallen to make way for the adult set and the tooth fairy had been summoned to reward her fastidious offerings; eyes glimmering with a mixture of joy and relief, touches of blue sparkling once she spoke up again. “Thank you grandpa! I’ll go to sleep straight away after!”

“I know you will, Nutmeg.” He greeted her with a hair ruffle as he came to perch at her side, being rewarded with a shrill giggle and Eva’s tiny hands batting his own away. Rick  _ swore  _ he heard his wife’s laugh echoing up the stairs at the reaction, from where she’d been left in peace by the fireside to enjoy a good book and some much needed relaxation after agreeing to supervise Eva’s swimming in the back garden pond (he may have been the gunslinger, but she was by far the braver grandparent). “Now...what kind of story would you like?”

He didn’t doubt for a second his granddaughter had already made up her mind over dinner.

“One about magic!”

“Ah,” Rick raised an eyebrow at the request, glancing back towards the half-open door in a conspiratorial display. “Now there’s something I know quite a few stories about...”

“You do?” Eva’s smile refused to dampen - the brightness now a consistent warmth - but her eyes shone with a touch of wonder. “Daddy mentioned that once...but he said me and Liam were too young to know all the  _ dee _ -tails!” He couldn’t help but chuckle at her over enunciation, remnant of how Alex had sometimes spoken when he was young.

“Yep.” It didn’t seem too wise to tell a six-year-old the gory tale of Imhotep’s first failed comeback, her grandparents’ clandestine meeting, the great stubborn power of AJ Henderson (then known by her maiden name, Jibade) and the slight detail about gradual bodily dissection... So the Gaelic mythos the O’Connell’s of the prior centuries withheld seemed a safer bet. “Do you remember when you went to Ireland? Just before Jem was born?”

His younger granddaughter had just turned three and was already a full-blown firecracker, who’s first word had been ‘why’ and the questions had come piling on from there onwards, with her current favoured interrogation topic being the fact Alex and Clem had chosen to have a fifth child, robbing her of the privileges of being the youngest.  _ Thank the gods Eva and Howie had surrendered that title with no fuss... _

“Sorta...” Eva nibbled her lip as her nose once more crinkled with the weight of her own thoughts, once more squeezing her feline shield. “Is there magic there?”

“Lots! Now, how much do you know about faeries?”

He should’ve never asked that question. It was pushing towards midnight when Rick finally managed to calm his granddaughter down.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just shameless fluff about Rick and little Eva, I have no excuse or justification, I just wanted to write this for my dear friend!  
> Hope you've enjoyed reading and please let me know if you have ^v^


End file.
